A STUDENT stands on a wooden jetty trapped by mountainous waves after ignoring warnings to stay away from the raging sea.

This astonishing photograph shows how a 21-year-old thrill-seeker put the lives of volunteer lifeboat crewmen at risk yesterday.

It was just one in a series of incidents that highlight the reckless stupidity of some people in the face of the storms and floods battering much of the country.

Edward Laxton had gone to the front in Aber­ystwyth to photograph the waves.

He was saved when an RNLI crew member braved the storm to climb out of the lifeboat and up a ladder to the jetty, wrestling him into a lifejacket before leading him to the boat being tossed about in the choppy sea.

Last night he came under fire on social media sites, with critics demanding that he be forced to pay for the cost of his rescue. Police were believed to have given him some stern “words of advice”.

A spokesman for the Aber­ystwyth RNLI said: “This incident highlights the dangers posed not only to the man taking photos, but also the danger that our volunteer crew members and other emergency services have been placed in rescuing this man.”

Labour MP Austin Mitchell, who represents the coastal constituency of Grimsby, said: “I don’t think these people realise what they’re doing.” He said it was impossible to legislate for stupidity.

The rescue took place after Aberystwyth seafront had been ­battered by waves for 24 hours and the Environment Agency had issued a severe flood warning for the area.

A huge chunk of the sea wall had already been badly damaged and homes had to be evacuated.

In an earlier incident in Newquay, Cornwall, rescuers pulled a reveller from the sea after he decided to go for a swim at 3am.

Police sergeant Reggie Butler said: “Another 30 seconds and he would have been washed out to sea and the situation could have been tragic.

“We were not going to go into the water unless an opportunity presented itself and it was safe to do so. Fortunately for him, it did.

“Wave-dodging may look fun but it’s the life of yourself and your ­rescuers you are putting at risk. I was only knee-deep in and I was struggling.”

At one stage, Met Office weather warnings covered almost the entire western coastline of Britain

On Thursday, parents were ­photographed taking their toddlers on to the wave-smashed seawall at Mullion Cove in Cornwall. Two people have already died in coastal tragedies. A 27-year-old man from Surrey was found on Porthleven Sands in Cornwall after he was swept out to sea on New Year’s Eve night, and a woman died after being rescued from Croyde Bay, north Devon.

Yesterday more than 100 volunteers continued to search for 18-year-old Harry Martin, last seen on Thursday afternoon leaving his home in Newton Ferrers, near ­Plymouth, to take photographs.

As thrill-seekers continue putting emergency teams in peril, Britain is bracing itself for a fresh onslaught of floods, gales and treacherous rains today after escaping a major storm disaster in recent days “by inches”.

Despite the deaths, rescue workers say the country avoided a calamity as most defences held firm and water levels subsided with moments to spare.

While coastal areas were rocked and communities flooded by a combination of powerful waves and burst river banks, the loss of life and serious damage to property could have been far greater given the horrendous conditions thrown up by the worst festive weather conditions in years.

At one stage, Met Office weather warnings covered almost the entire western coastline of Britain. But RNLI flood rescue team leader Peter Dawes said: “Fortunately, we have not seen the worst of it manifest itself.

“Talking to our guys on the ground, it looks as if we were extremely lucky in that the winds or the surf dropped and this seems to have just taken a little bit out of it.

“In a lot of the areas it has been very close. If you look at the heights of a lot of the rivers and a lot of the coastal inundation, then it really is a case of a matter of inches.”

Yet as the flood alerts began to subside, there were warnings from the Met Office of ice and another band of heavy rain from Scotland to Cornwall today. ­Forecasters say the week will begin with yet more weather ­warnings, although conditions should quickly improve with plenty of sunny spells.

The worst day of the week is expected to be Wednesday.

Towards the latter half of next week it looks as though the procession of low pressure systems will finally slow down, giving way to calmer weather, with softer outbreaks of rain.

But Jonathan Day, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency said: “The risk of flooding to the coast will continue over the next few days, especially on the south and west coast and along the Severn estuary.

“In addition, wet conditions have left the ground saturated in many areas, increasing the risk of river and surface water flooding.”

Over the past two weeks, the RNLI’s 16 flood rescue teams have been working alongside police, fire, coastguard, RSPCA inspectors and Environment Agency.

The coastal surge has tested more than 1,800 miles of flood defences protecting over 200,000 homes, according to the Environment Agency.